I felt it grow inside of me.

It made time slow down when I tried to go faster.

My plans suddenly came to a screeching halt with the sound of the first sneeze.

My senses started to dull, and my nose became so stopped up I thought I’d burst as a chimney might with Santa Claus’ fat body trying to squeeze down on Christmas night.

Somehow, I caught the one illness I thought I’d never get this year–the flu.

The croaking sound my father heard was me asking for some water or more medicine.

“Do you want some toast? Soup?”

No.

The only thing that sounded relatively good was watermelon. That juicy, delectable pink fruit kept me afloat while I thought I was sinking.

My hopes were floating high, but so was my fever.

I tried to make plans with friends, but failed because of new shooting aches through my back and head.

My bed, the only thing I thought I would want during Thanksgiving break, was the thing I most desired to get out of.

Oh, the yearning I felt just to be able to taste food or laugh at my father’s jokes when he walked into the bedroom.

When I woke up at exactly 8:10 a.m. on the third day, my father brought me sugar snap peas from the refrigerator for breakfast, and I finally tasted my first food in days. It felt like the clouds parted and the angels began to sing. I immediately began to feel my spirit rise.

“There’s that smile I have been waiting all week to see,” my father said.

It became easier and easier to get out of bed.

The next day was Thanksgiving, and I was determined to make the dinner whether my scratchy throat and congested chest liked it or not.

Chugging ice-cold berry Gatorade before my sister picked me up, I made sure that if I was going to make the best out of my first day of consciousness in a while, I wouldn’t end up like a dehydrated turkey that had been in the oven too long.

My aunt’s house was about an hour away from my dad’s house, so I had the opportunity to just lay back in my sister’s car and enjoy the ride–as much as I could in mid-afternoon traffic in Chicago.

I arrived, and when I stepped in the door, I immediately felt that the past few days of sickness would be forgotten in this celebration of family, turkey and happiness.